


Heroines and Villains

by howardently



Category: My Mad Fat Diary
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4574187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howardently/pseuds/howardently
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rae's been cornered by a dastardly villain. Will her prince be around to rescue her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heroines and Villains

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: A fic about Rae and Finn meeting in an alley in which Rae is being attacked, but Finn defends her, and that's the first time they meet since college and then flirt and lovey dovey beautiful stuff.

“Okay buddy. Just settle down.” She says, hands raised in front of her in a gesture of surrender. “You just walk away and I’ll walk away.”

This fucking figures. She’s already missed her bus going home from her new job, so of course she’s going to get cornered in an alley by a total nutter. That’s just the Earl luck, isn’t it? Always the worst possible thing.

Rae wipes her sweaty palms on her new gray work skirt and takes a step backward in her sensible but stylish (and Chloe-approved) pumps, stumbling slightly over a loose rock. She tests the weight of her handbag in the crook of her arm to see if it might be of some use against her attacker, but it’s fairly light, having yet to be filled with the standard purse debris. She inwardly curses all her grown-up accessories; she’d always suspected that maturity would be useless in a fight, and it looks like today is the day she’ll be proved correct.

She swallows thickly as her attacker’s face contorts into an angry sneer, lips curled into a growl. Rae glances around the alley, hoping for some method of escape. There’s a heavy metal door in the wall beside her, but it looks like it hasn’t been opened in years. Behind her is a chain-link fence, and she has a strange moment of déjà-vu. She’s the plucky heroine, stripped of her usual armor, cornered by a ruthless villain. Any moment, a prince should pop out of a shadow to save her, right?

“Help! Someone!” She calls, playing her part like a good little damsel in distress.

He seems to take her shouts as a signal that the rumble is about to start and lurches forward. Rae shrieks, lets her bag slip down to her hand, waves it in front of her. It won’t hurt him much, but hopefully the sight of a big lass rapidly swinging around a red purse in the air will be enough to frighten him off.

“Get back! Back, you disgusting animal, BACK!”

He keeps coming, his mouth opened wide to show rotting yellow teeth, spittle flying as he moves. He’s limber for such a runty thing, fast for how emaciated and sickly he looks. Her back hits the fence behind her, and she wants to both laugh and cry. This is so fucking cliché, it’s hilarious. But she’s also seriously starting to fear for her life.

And then, with a pouring of golden light and the sound of a trumpet, her rescuer appears! Okay, so it’s more of a stream of weak yellow light from the rusty door on the side of the building and a sharp whistle, but beggars can’t be choosers, and she’ll take whatever kind of rescue she can get.

“Oi! Stella! What do you think you’re doing, you mangy rat?” A male voice hollers. Something shivers down her back, an awareness that she can’t quite place. “Get away from that lady or there’ll be no supper for you tonight.”

She knows that voice. She knows that voice well, would know that voice anywhere, even if it has been years since she’s heard it. For the first time tonight, Rae feels a real frisson of fear. She swallows and shrinks back into the shadows against the fence, but the man to whom the voice is attached is coming out of his sliver of light.

“Are you alright?” He says, and it’s so familiar, and she doesn’t know how to answer. “She’s harmless, really. Probably just wanted a bit of a lick.” He approaches the scruffy dog and crouches down to scratch behind her ears. The mutt tilts her head back and gives him a canine grin, tongue lolling out. He smiles down at the dog and then into Rae’s shadowy corner, all open and warm and the same.

Why’d she have to be wearing this stupid outfit? Damn Chloe and all her advice about dressing for the job she wants. Because here she is, about to see Finn for the first time in two years, and she’s wearing a stupid cardigan. God, she hates her life some days.

Rae smoothes down her skirt, grateful that it, at least, is cute. And tight fitting over the curves she’s come to appreciate in her form. The ones Finn had always lingered over. She adjusts the rolled up sleeves of her sweater, situates her handbag back into the crook of her elbow, runs a hand down over her hair, pushing one side back over her shoulder. And then, careful of her heels, Rae steps out into the light.

He’s muttering to Stella, still crouched in the center of the alley. She knows the exact moment that he sees it’s her because she can hear his sharp intake of breath, followed by a silence so deep and resounding that she worries that the world will crack when one of them speaks. She licks her lips, clamps her bottom one between her teeth so that she won’t do the usual Rae thing and babble daft nonsense just because she’s nervous.

Finn rises to his feet in a smooth, slow movement. She sighs a little, just on the inside, about how easy that seems for him. Looks like he’s still athletic and graceful, just a bit more… filled out now. Masculine? It’s hard to put it into words in her head, even with as much as she loves words. All she really knows for sure is that he looks fucking good. His hair’s shorter, the shortest she’s even seen it, sticking up in the front a bit. He’s wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, a dirty white apron tied around his waist. He wipes his hands on it now, uncomfortably.

He looks so bewildered, so frozen that she takes pity on him and says something, the first thing that comes to mind. “My hero.”

He chuckles lightly, and while it’s not exactly mirthless, it’s pretty close. He touches his mouth, rubs his fingers back and forth over his lips, shakes his head and tilts it to the side. When he moves his hand away, he’s smiling and his words seem to have shaken loose.

“Rae? Is that really you?” He asks, and she makes a face at the question. Has he wrongly thought it was her before?

She takes a step towards him. “Finn Nelson. Still rescuing distressed women, I see.” She can’t help but grin. He looks really fucking good. The word esculent floats through her mind and she chuckles slightly at the return of her wayward vocabulary. He looks like a particularly yummy pastry in a shop window, ready to be gobbled up by her.

He shakes his head again, his face overtaken by that huge smile she still thinks of some afternoons when she’s by herself and dreamy. And then he’s right there, wrapping her up in the kind of tight hug that’s reserved for people you thought you’d never see again. Rae puts her arms around his shoulders. Her bag bounces against his back. He buries his face in her neck like he always used to, in that same curved spot where his lips have rested a thousand times. Damn this bloody cardigan, there’s no skin there now for him to kiss.

He pulls back after a moment to look at her, but keeps his hands on her shoulders like he can’t possibly let her go. He looks her over slowly; his eyes crawling from the crown of her head, over her face, down her throat, over her chest, across her hips, all the way to the tips of her shoes. She blushes at his perusal of her, and at the corresponding warmth that pools low in her belly. Then he pulls her into another bone-crushing hug, rocking her back and forth gently in his arms.

“I’d heard you was in London.” He says when he lets her go. Rae glances down to see the formerly ferocious dog now sitting placidly at his feet, looking up at him with adoring eyes. She has an impulse to growl at the dog, stake her territory, mark Finn as  _MINE._  But really, he probably belongs more to the dog, so she shakes her head and gives Finn a smile.

“Just moved. I got a job at a publishing house, so…” She nods and shrugs, does the same casual relaying of this information that she’s done a dozen times.

“Nice.” He wrinkles his nose, and his eyes crinkle too. “That’s really cool, Rae.”

Suddenly, she doesn’t want to play the humble part she’s been assigned to, doesn’t want to give him the same adult rhetoric about her new job. This is Finn, unexpectedly and amazingly Finn, and she doesn’t want to tell him that it’s just a small company and that its entry level to get her foot in the door and all that. She wants to be excited with him, because  _it’s Finn_  and she knows he’ll appreciate it.

“It is cool, actually. I get to read things for a living, right? Like, they actually pay me to read books and give my opinions! Can you believe it? They don’t pay me much, but still. I’m thrilled to be working there.” She rambles.

“I’m happy for you.” He’s smiling like he means it, like it’s not a platitude. She can feel herself standing a little taller, a little prouder. “I always knew you were gonna do something great, and now look at you.”

He gestures vaguely towards her, and she blushes when he does just look at her. She tugs at the edge of her cardigan uncomfortably, embarrassed to be looking so  _adult_. “Chloe.” She murmurs by way of explanation, and Finn nods.

“Ah, ‘course. You look great though. Really really great.” He rubs the back of his neck as he finishes giving this compliment, kicks the toe of his boot against the ground. Stella lies down and puts a paw over his shoe. Finn rolls his eyes.

“You look good too.” Rae says, and it comes out unexpectedly rumbly. Maybe even sultry. She wants to scrub her hands over her face, but refrains. The heroine is supposed to fall all over her rescuer, but she’d like to keep  _some_  dignity, if at all possible.

Finn looks even more uncomfortable now. He shifts his weight around, mutters ‘thanks’ under his breath. They stand there in the alley, both looking around shiftily. The dog sighs.

“So, uh, you work here?” Rae asks, pointing to the open door. Kitchen sounds are audible from behind it, and she wonders that she’s managed to block them until now.

He nods. “Yeah, just for now. I’m actually going to culinary school.”

“Really? That’s great. Good for you.” God, she can hear herself speak and it’s awful. She’s going from basically hitting on him, to jocularly congratulating him like a child. All of this is bizarre. She needs to get out of here.

Abruptly, Finn laughs, big and loud and warm. Rae can feel the tension wafting out of the air at the sound.

“This is so weird.” He says, and she giggles. “Why is it this weird?”

“I’ve no idea.” She shakes her head. “We’ve seen each other naked, we should be able to have a sodding conversation.”

And all the humor drains out of the exchange just like that. Just great, just fucking great. Her and her unstoppable gob. Finn’s laughter trails off and he looks away. When he turns back, his cheeks and ears are pink. She thinks her face is probably crayola red, it feels so hot.

“You, uh, seeing anyone?”

He asks the ground, or maybe the dog, but Rae knows it’s for her. She shifts her weight from foot to foot, unsure what to say. She doesn’t especially want to admit that she’s not dating anyone, not that there’s anything wrong with not dating someone. She’s focusing on herself right now, on her career. It’s perfectly fine to be single right now. She knows this because she’s told herself this every Friday night for the last six months.

But on the other hand, maybe he wants her to be single. Maybe he’s thinking of them seeing each other naked again. Naked new. Would it be like doing it for the first time, again, or would it be like falling into the same patterns? Like falling into a familiar bed, literally and metaphorically. It’s been so long since she’s had sex, like proper sex. She’s definitely claiming single, just on the off chance that there could be naked new.

He’s looking at her when she’s finally finished her mental calculations, and she blushes even more. How is that even possible? She’s seen him naked so much, she shouldn’t be physically able to be this nervous. She tells herself to think of his testicles, because testicles are weird and gross and vulnerable and thinking of them should put her back in a position of power. But all it takes is a fleeting thought of his spectacular bum to strip it all away again. More blushing.

“Oh, um… No.” She mumbles finally. “Not at the moment, no. Just moved up here and all. You?” Her voice squeaks on the question.

He smiles wickedly, so fast that she almost misses it. “No. No one special.”

Rae rolls her eyes, laughs, though her heart is thudding almost painfully. Can you feel your blood rushing; is that a real thing, or is it all in her head? “That’s such a boy answer. Are you seeing several unspecial someones?”

Finn looks her right in the eyes, gives her a steady gaze and a crooked smile. He shifts his feet, and somehow he looks cocky and sexier than anyone has a right to look. How’s he done that? He’s barely moved! But he looks her dead on and says slowly, “Right now, all I see is you, Rae.”

Holy fucking shit.

She doesn’t know what to say to that. She doesn’t know if she can even still talk. Clearly Finn has picked up some new moves in the last three years. Psychosomatic or not, she can feel all her blood pooling in her crotch. The thought skitters through her mind that he might have learned some other new things, too.

She swallows. Finn grins. Stella whines.

“Alright, alright.” Finn grumbles at the dog, nudging her with his boot. Rae feels a wave of dizziness when he breaks eye contact to look down at the dog. When he looks back up, he’s still too pleased with himself and painfully cheerful, but he’s not got the sex look turned on, thank God. “I’ve got to get this one some dinner. What about you?”

“I think I’ll pass on kitchen scraps, thanks.” Rae narrows her eyes, and he chuckles.

“Where were you headed before this old girl held you up?”

“Held me hostage, you mean.” She glares at the dog, who has now apparently decided Rae’s okay and is now shooting her an innocent look.

“Rae, I’m trying to ask you to dinner, yeah?” Finn shakes his head, but he’s not stopped smiling since she said she wasn’t dating anyone.

“Oh.” She shifts her bag into her hands, dangles it in front of her. The dog watches with weary eyes. Finn raises an eyebrow, his happiness visibly dissipating with her silence. It takes a minute before she realizes that she’s not given him a proper answer. Wide eyed, she scrambles, “Oh, right! Yeah. Yes, I mean. Yes. Dinner.”

“Good. Good.” Finn exhales shakily. He holds out his hands in front of him, palms towards her, not unlike she’d done to the dog earlier. “I’m just gonna pop back inside and get my jacket. You stay right here, yeah? Don’t go anywhere.”

Rae looks down at the dog as Finn disappears inside, and they seem to share a moment of ‘ _I’m pretty sure he was talking to you.’_ Rae shakes her head; Stella sighs again and rests her head on her paws.

She tries to recall what happens after the rescue. What does the plucky heroine do with the boy of her dreams? Rae swings her purse in front of her, smiles at her shoes as she remembers. Why, they live happily ever after, of course.

Finn emerges a moment later, wearing his old leather jacket and carrying a bowl that he stoops to set down. He scratches the dog’s ear again, whispers something to her, then stands and offers Rae his hand.


End file.
